Shorter Trips

If you are working, rather than a student, teacher, or person of independent wealth, spending a whole summer wandering around Europe is probably not possible. For someone who has only two or three weeks to travel, the priorities change. Planning ahead to make the most of your limited time is essential, and a trip can and should be planned out day by day. Not very spontaneous, I know, but two weeks just doesn’t allow for that. On the other hand, two weeks is plenty of time to see some truly wonderful places in Europe, and is a heck of a lot better than not going at all. Also, the short-term traveler has one huge advantage over the summer traveler: the ability to go before June or after August. If you have a choice, by all means avoid the summer crowds and heat and go in spring or early fall. Between October and April, however, you should expect some fairly cold weather, even m southern Europe. Some thoughts about a two- or three-week trip:

- Decide whether you want to explore one or two cities, or see the most famous bits of three cities. Anything more than three cities or (two regions) is going to be too much.

- Traveling by night train is recommended, especially if you are able to get a decent nights sleep in a somewhat noisy environment. More on this in the section on trains in Chapter 6, “Getting around.”